Last year, Francis Ngannou was stripped of the UFC Heavyweight Championship as he departed from the company after the two sides couldn’t reach a new deal. Ngannou is currently signed to the Professional Fighters League (PFL).
During the UFC 305 pre-sale press conference, Israel Adesanya called himself, Kamaru Usman, and Francis Ngannou as the "Three Kings" from Africa. However, Ngannou’s name was edited out from the UFC 305 countdown video.
The first rule of UFC Fight Club: don’t mention Francis Ngannou’s name…
— AFeldmanMMA (@afeldMMA) August 13, 2024
Here’s a look at the clip from the UFC 305 Countdown episode versus what Adesanya actually said at the UFC 305 Pre-Sale Press Conference.
It’s no surprise, but the UFC’s attempt to erase Ngannou from its… pic.twitter.com/PZpA7UAtSe
At the Contender Series press conference, UFC President & CEO Dana White was asked why UFC scrubbed Francis Ngannou's name. White said that he had no idea about it. White added, “If I said we did it, I’d say, ‘Yeah, f--k him,’ and ‘This is why we did it.’ I know nothing about it. Nobody ever asked me about it, and this is the first we’re hearing about it.”
Later, the UFC President & CEO issued the following statement to Kevin Lole.
“My production team are a bunch of rock stars and they are truly f--king awesome. I make it so hard on them sometimes with some of the crazy sh-t I say and it's tough. When you asked me about that, I didn't know anything about it. But someone was editing that and made a conscious decision, thinking that was the right thing to do, that that's what we would have wanted, what I would have wanted. I didn't know about it and that was nothing that ever came across my desk. I'm in charge of everything production-related, so at the end of the day, the fact that it happened falls on me 100 percent. It's my responsibility and I accept it. Blame me for that. I put them in such a tough spot sometimes saying all this crazy sh-t, it's hard for them.
Whoever was editing it, they thought that was the right decision and did what they thought I wanted. That's not what I wanted and had I known that, I would have not authorized that. But that's on me. Totally on me. I already called Israel Adesanya and apologized for it.”
Dana White is asked why they scrubbed Francis Ngannou from the UFC 305 Countdown video. pic.twitter.com/PaVJ6Njfer
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) August 21, 2024